Ordinary Person A

#40

Empty bottles were scattered on the table, and leftover curry had dried up in the bowl. Do-hyun also opened the balcony window wide, which had been closed, due to the lingering smell of alcohol in the house.

After cleaning up the empty bottles and thoroughly washing the dishes, Do-hyun helped Ho-woo, who was still struggling on tiptoes to fit all the bought instant foods into the cupboard, and neatly finished the final cleanup.

“I should go now, is that okay?”

“Am I a child? I’ve been living here alone without you just fine until now.”

Ho-woo lightly kicked Do-hyun’s behind, who was lingering until the end, as if for revenge, chasing him out of the house. Even after being kicked, Do-hyun kept looking back as if reluctant to leave. After sending him off, Ho-woo stared at the things that particularly caught his eye in the clean house, then moved again.

Thanks to Do-hyun, he had to resolve something before unnecessary thoughts entered his cleared mind.

Ho-woo thoroughly washed the container that had held the dried squid, and along with the pager he hadn’t returned yet, put it into the bag that had been pitifully left on the door for days.

Now there was nothing to return, nothing to worry about, nothing to be caught up on, so he just needed to take care of his own heart. Believing that the aftermath wouldn’t last long since he was rejecting the other person anyway, Ho-woo tried to maintain his daily life as usual.

To push away the thoughts that kept coming up, Ho-woo finished cleaning as nonchalantly as possible and was about to put gathered clothes into the washing machine when he crouched down on the floor, holding a shirt.

Washing machine… damn it.

Even though he tried not to recall it, memories rushed in like a tsunami in an instant. It was close to a natural disaster that couldn’t be stopped by human power, and Ho-woo floundered helplessly, swept away by those memories.

Even while enjoying daily life as if nothing was wrong, with just the slightest trace or trigger, it would come up like a photograph.

His pathetic self who was surprised at Oh-yul, calling him a dryer, his even more pathetic self who called him a washing machine. And Oh-yul who poured out self-PR applying that, all came up in order.

He said there was no need for Ho-woo to figure out what was sincere, that Ho-woo should just believe in his sincerity. If he was going to leave without any lingering feelings after shaking someone up so much, he shouldn’t have said such things.

Ho-woo roughly threw the shirt on the bathroom floor, then picked it up again with a gloomy face. The shirt wasn’t at fault. The one at fault was Oh-yul who had shaken Ho-woo up so much and left.

Still, it’s fortunate, because if I had accepted him, I’d be even more miserable now.

Ho-woo let out a long sigh as he pressed the washing machine start button. It was nonsense to be irritated at the other person when he had no intention of accepting him anyway.

But I can’t help feeling annoyed.

Suppressing the sticky irritation welling up, Ho-woo tried to justify his anger. When he turned on the TV to push away thoughts of Oh-yul again, a current affairs program about Espers/Guides was airing, using footage from that press conference. Ho-woo grabbed his head and buried it in the sofa.

Oh-yul was smiling brightly on the large TV screen. The hand that had held Ho-woo’s was now firmly holding the hand of a young girl.

I’ve slept enough for today.

Ho-woo recalled Oh-yul’s melting smile that was clearly etched in his memory again and groaned.

His stomach churned and flipped as if seasick.

***

Unlike his usually mild and naive atmosphere, his eyes were hollow, and his light brown eyes, stuck with irritation, were deeply furrowed.

Ordinary person A was suffering from news he didn’t really want to hear coming from all directions.

“So what’s the age difference between him and that minister’s daughter?”

“I heard it’s fifteen years, isn’t that totally like a thief?”

“Yeah, he’s a thief alright.”

Men chattering about the topic Ho-woo least wanted to hear were sitting nearby. He had come down to the cafeteria because he needed to eat lunch, but his mood plummeted to the worst.

Don’t pay attention. Don’t pay attention… Ah, fuck it!

Ho-woo put down his spoon as if throwing it away, his appetite completely gone, and pressed his throbbing head with his hand. Having not slept well, his condition, mood, and this situation all felt the worst.

Even though he didn’t want to know, it was such a big issue that people were busy talking about it everywhere. The Management Corporation seemed to be planning to broadcast every move of Kim Seon-young and Oh-yul on TV as if advertising. Considering they rarely showed Esper affairs usually, this was quite an unusual situation.

“Come to think of it, that minister’s daughter. I heard she has good matching rates with other S-class Espers too. Who was it? The power plant?”

“Ah, if it’s the power plant, it’s that one, Joo Si-yeon.”

“But, her body is killer.”

“Espers are fucking pretty, aren’t they? But they’re scary when you see them in person. Even C or D class coming for the 15-year-old manifestation test gives you a sense of rejection, that says it all.”

“True.”

Ho-woo finally stood up to leave, unable to bear the chatter of the men sitting too close. The tray he hadn’t finished was still full of barely touched food, but he didn’t feel like eating.

In the end, as Ho-woo was clearing his tray and about to return to the office after buying a coffee, his phone vibrated slightly. Thinking it might be a work email, he reflexively checked the screen, and his eyes furrowed again.

[It would be a big problem if I disappeared, you know?]

The reply to the message he had sent on Saturday morning had just arrived. First it was three ‘giyeok’ characters, then a polite tone, and now casual speech.

Is this person really crazy?

Ho-woo felt no value in replying further and shoved his phone back into his pocket. However, the vibrations continued several more times. Even though he wanted to ignore it, he didn’t only receive messages from crazy people on his phone. It could be work-related, so Ho-woo took out his phone again to check.

[bjnbubya]

The first one that came was a message that looked like random keystrokes. Wondering what the point was of this seemingly meaningless string of letters, Ho-woo’s eyes widened at the second message.

[Wait, when I touch it, this thing can’t get its act together.]

What did he mean by not getting its act together? Where on earth did this crazy person get his number and was sending these messages? No, was replying in the first place the problem?

Ho-woo considered for a long time whether to block the number or not, with a serious face. As if sensing his deliberation, messages arrived one after another.

[Hey.]

[You’re reading this now, right?]

[Why aren’t you replying?]

These days, messages had such an annoying feature. Whose idea was it to make the unread mark disappear when the other person checks it? Ho-woo sent a short reply.

[I’m blocking you.]

And he cleanly blocked the number. It was a natural measure that didn’t need any explanation. However, the stranger with the unknown number seemed to be more persistent than Ho-woo.

[Don’t block this one. I’ll get scolded, you know.]

The message that flew in again from a different number was clearly from the same person as before. Though the number was different, the tone and content of the message were the same.

[I heard we’re the same age, so is it okay if I speak casually?]

The person who had already been speaking casually sought Ho-woo’s belated consent. More than that, from the word ‘heard’, Ho-woo strongly felt that this unknown person already knew about him. Instead of blocking immediately, Ho-woo pondered for a moment, mulling over the received message.

Is it Do-hyun’s friend?

But that didn’t make sense because Do-hyun had never introduced other friends to Ho-woo. It didn’t add up for him to suddenly give Ho-woo’s number to another friend now when he had never done so before.

[Who are you?]

Ho-woo asked very politely to the rude person. Of course, what came back to that polite question was casual speech with unbelievable content.

[Me? I’m Joo Si-yeon. Right now, this phone is Ha Eun-chan’s. You just blocked mine.]

The content seemed too much like a prank to easily believe. While thinking how other S-class Espers could know his number and be sending such nonsensical messages, Ho-woo had a moment of realization. It wasn’t that he had no connection to them.

[How did you get my number?]

[Oh-yul borrowed my phone to send a message, so I know. More importantly, don’t be so formal with the honorifics, just speak comfortably. I don’t care about that stuff.]

Seeing the reply that Oh-yul had sent a message, Ho-woo opened the message history of the number he had blocked and scrolled up. The first start was three ‘giyeok’ characters. And below that, the continuing polite tone.

‘Make sure to carry what I gave you. Don’t leave it at home.’

He had thought it was someone playing a prank, but realizing it was Oh-yul, Ho-woo became very confused. Wasn’t this man happily dating someone 15 years younger now? The news even said they were going to do the imprinting that the Management Corporation had forbidden, and he himself was smiling brightly.

More than that, had he left his own phone somewhere and borrowed another S-class Esper’s phone to send a message? Could it be that the reason he couldn’t contact Ho-woo was that he had no means to?

Ho-woo traced with his fingertip the message that was presumed to be from Oh-yul. The throbbing pain that had been severely tormenting his head until just now seemed to ease a little. He found himself unknowingly feeling relieved that he wasn’t such a light meaning to that man, one that could be easily brushed off.

After looking at the message for a long time, Ho-woo noticed a small notification pop up on the screen with a slight vibration. It was a message from Joo Si-yeon.